WAG TF: Russia's Determination Destroys Doubt

Yesterday the women managed to give Russia a matching pair of silvers in the team event, and in doing so, have lifted their country up off their knees after neither program reached the podium in Glasgow. The charge was led by the formidable Mustafina, who posted over 60 in the AA to boost the overall team score considerably (she received the highest scores for her team on 2 events). As usual, things didn't go down smoothly, but despite having some misses on bars of all places, the girls improved on every other event since qualifications. Let's recap:



Rotating with Great Britain did wonders for Russia's performances; they are less stressed than when they're with USA, and the knowledge that they very recently beat that team at Euros steeled their nerves. First year senior Angelina Melnikova led off on bars, and again, I'm not sure what is influencing the UB judges but she is receiving some of the best scores of her life for work that shows sufficient room for improvement. That's not to say Melka was a mess- she was her usual tidy efficient self- but handstands were not anywhere near vertical and pirouettes were rushed. Domestic judges feel no qualm about giving her an 8.5 or less in execution at home, so who knew she'd be going 15+ so consistently at the Olympics of all places! Up next was Daria, who needed to deliver something big for Russia to widen the gap between them and the also talented bar nation of GBR. Her execution was wonderful but, ugh, she did not do the komova II in connection and lost 4 tenths of difficulty on her only event. I'm worried because she did the same thing in quals (though she was erroneously gifted full difficulty) and I wonder if there's some injury she might be nursing or if it's a headcasing issue. Whatever the matter, the judges weren't granting her top honors a second time and she got a 15.1 with 6.3 in difficulty. I think we were all feeling Russia was doomed to fourth place after that score emerged. Then came Aliya to save us as she always does. She took some time to stare down the bars, talk to herself, and blow out her signature deep breath before she begun. I still can't believe I'm seeing Musy with a 6.8 d-score when just a month ago no one thought she would defend her Olympic title. In a word, she was perfection. Precise, dynamic yet elegant, making everything connect with ease. For her effort, she got the highest (tied) score of the night with a 15.933. 

So Russia's UB total was lower than quals but if they could get through the next rotation with minimum damages then all would not be lost. Unfortunately, Angelina had a bad fall on her layout, where she was off to the side too much on one of her legs and couldn't get centered without losing total control of the skill. I can tell she's having a bad time at these Games and I hope it doesn't start to affect her confidence and post Olympic performances. Mustafina was up next and delivered us from quals hell with a nearly perfect routine. Sorry I keep using that word to describe her, but you guys know when Aliya performs it's always terribly underwhelming or totally magnificent (there are no in betweens with the queen). Either she doesn't really want to be doing something, so doesn't care, or she's putting her all into it and fighting for every tenth. She scored a 14.951 which significantly improved the team's overall total, even after counting Melka's fall. Everyone thought it was crazy to have Seda anchoring but it seems coaches have finally figured out what works best for their most infamous inconsistent competitor. Did she even blink during that routine, it was over so fast! She raced through two acro series with gusto and was practically wobbleless on anything. She "only" scored a 14.733 but, firstly, we all know her downfall is execution on leaps, and secondly, no one cares what her score is...she hit- again!!! If we were worried about GBR being hard on our tails we could forget about it after beam because they fell once, but also had a so-so UB rotation, thus were in no position to challenge Russia...yet. We were headed to floor. 

Goddess of all things

This is now my least favorite apparatus from Russia, I'm just too aware of the crisis on this event. The vitality of four years ago is long gone and turned to dust even for those who grew out of that quad. I can't understand what direction we are going in when the lack of acrobatics is not even recovered by captivating dance. If Russia was lacking in any difficulty last quad at least we had other things that made us sparkle but now it just seems like everything- acrobatics, choreography, confident dance skills- has been compromised. And for what? The addition of a few dlo's and some wolf turn combos? I hope we can count on more creativity with the next generation. All three girls hit their routines with no major mistakes and only Seda scored under 14. Aliya landed her tumbling better than quals but was downgraded because her releve technique is quite green so she's struggling to keep her leg up throughout turns. But again, that standard 8.5 in execution saw her through to an even 14.0. The most important things that happened during this rotation were that Melka finally had a good performance to raise her spirits (14.2), and GBR suffered the pitfalls of difficult tumbling when they counted major oob's deductions for 2/3 of their routines. They weren't going to be playing catch up to Russia after all, but as it turns out, it wasn't GBR we had to fear the most from (although I did name this next country as a medal contender in one of my earlier posts on the subject).


Japan was doing great work up to rotation 3; their floor workers were amazing (and incredibly enough they could have gained another 6-8 tenths out of floor if they had better landings from Miyakawa), their bars were securely improved, and the vaulting was very impressive. After three rotations they were sitting in a very exciting third place ahead of Russia but beam was to come, and while they're capable of great work there, Russia was headed to the highest scoring apparatus, so there was no doubting who would pull ahead. Still, I always knew those ''pesky" Japanese were on the rise  (bring on Tokyo 2020). With China's amazing beam performances- easily outmatching Russia there- they were securely in second and only they could change that. 

Britain completed their vaults with ease and though they put on a face of contentment for the cameras, after so much extensive hype from the media, one could sense they were utterly disappointed with the evening. You'll recall that they don't have many EF's either, so on a whole their Olympics aren't going quite as planned. They would finish the night in 5th place and that is better than where they were in London. They'll be very excellent continuing into next quad, I'm sure of it. Angelina started us off on vault with a clean dty scoring a 14.9; I was getting emotional by then because I remembered when she sucked on this apparatus, yet here she was AT THE OLYMPICS, chosen as the dependable lead off. So many improvements have come from this team, in the way they've composed themselves and perform with better confidence. To end our medal bid came two girls who needed no additional confidence on vault, and what a send off did they give us. Aliya stuck her dty cold, and then just rested there for dramatic emphasis...15.1333 yes gawd. Maria opted against the cheng and finally had her own little Maroney moment by sticking her amanar in the team final. It was as excellent a finish as the way they begun; I want them to always compete in this order now!

BOSS

There was nothing left to do but see where the chips lay after everyone else finished. China deserves all the recognition for taking their outdated program, which centered around UB & BB, and adding depth to vault and floor. They had a 6.6 and 6.3 on fx...from China!?! But unfortunately breakout spinning sensation, Mao Yi, could not deliver on her trademark 3.5 to front pike and slipped way out of bounds. Much as I love Russia, I can't say I was happy just then. Her face, the moment, was tragic. She bravely finished her routine but that fall, after China counted two high 14's on fx, gave Mother Russia the unexpected silver. Mao was downgraded from 6.3 to 5.7 and took a 1 point deduction for the fall. In the background I could see my favorite girls in the world hugging and crying happy tears, not gloating over China's condition, but rejoicing in how a job well done can lead to success when you focus on yourself and no one else. They weren't hoping for China to fall, and along with everyone else they definitely weren't depending on it. But if they had not improved on floor and beam and vault, China would've still come away with that silver, so they knew this triumph was determined as much by their own success as it was by China's shocking failure. And isn't this what we've been saying about Russia all along- fight until the very end, because though another country might be stronger than you, that cannot and should not determine what YOU will do. We won silver because we made it hard for China to be anything less than perfect. We could've kept falling and being inaccurate and not fighting for every landing and China would've whooped our butts even with a 12 on fx. But because we improved and persisted, we closed the gap between us and a team that had significantly more difficulty. Like the men's team victory, this medal is encased in silver but forged in gold.

Congratulations to the women's team on smashing our expectations and defending their silver medals from London. Good job to Team USA on another dynamite competition, suffering no falls in eight years. To China, you were amazing until the very end and I hope you come to love what that bronze signifies; your program has recovered from the pitfalls of the 09-12 era and I expect you to fight for the gold once health and harmony returns to your team. Netherlands, Japan, Britain, and Germany are the breakout stars of these Games, and the entire quad- they all scored high enough to place them in third at last year's World's. And last but not least well done for the host country team, Brazil, who raised their team total by about 9 point since last year and would've narrowly missed bronze in a World team final they didn't even qualify for! That is a tremendous effort and I'm sure the addition of your talented juniors, raised under Alexandrov, will make you a force to be reckoned with in the years to come. Hold on to him, I hear he's a good coach ;)

I'm ecstatic for how well Russia is doing, and I hope they can hold on to the momentum and bring home more medals in the All Around. Forward Team Russia, victory awaits you!